The artworks in this publication illustrate the Public Sightings programme which was part of Photo 98, the UK Year of Photography and the Electronic Image. One of the largest and most ambitious public art programmes of the last few years Public Sightings was a programme of new commissions for sites outside the gallery context.

It intended to encourage experimentation as well as question assumptions about where and what a photographic or lens artwork could, or should be. It enabled artists, particularly those working with new media, to work beyond the virtual, the computer screen and the frame, and to engage with the physical realities, demands and vagaries of architectural space, public environments and audience.

Most commissions, although not all, were temporary and digitally based. They appeared and disappeared across the urban landscapes and websites of Yorkshire and the rest of the UK throughout the year.

Three essays by David Bate, Matt Lock and Caroline Smith critique and discuss the programme and the issues surrounding commissioning of photographic and digital work within the public domain. Also included is a major travelogue essay by Bernard Walsh and 85 colour plates illustrate the Public Sightings programme.